Decisions - I have the opportunity (if I get in) to attend a Dana Pike seminar close by.

Friday is for pups 8-14 months and Brady will be 8 months when it happens ; low jumps or no bars and tunnels with the pup needed to sequence 8-10 obstacles; no contacts or weaves which he won't be learning for quite awhile (probably at least 6-8 months).

Saturday - Novice & Open dogs (Towhee)
Sunday - Master dogs - having to have qualified in Masters (Faelan)

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

Thanks. Is that schedule usually set in stone for the year, or are events usually added on those sites?

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

They are added as they are submitted for approval from AKC

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

Casper "got" Spin this morning. He's had it for a few days, if I'm holding the food bowl, but otherwise I was still using a food lure/hand cue. I dropped the food lure a couple of days ago, but still had to use a big swing of the arm hand cue. (Maybe an arm cue?) This was really tough, because at some point, my arm or hand swings over his head and he thinks that's some sort of jump cue. So today, I was able to say Spin, and cue with my hand/arm, but not all the way around his body. Whew. Now we just have to speed it up so it looks like a spin, not walking around in a circle.

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A couple of other thoughts . . . your instructor, assuming they compete, will probably know where the closest trials, matches and run throughs are. I found once I entered an AKC trial, I started to get mail and email notices for upcoming trials throughout the northeast (I'm in CT).

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

Yes, my instructor definitely knows where they are, I just didn't think to ask about that. A lot of people that train there compete.


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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

At class today Zoe was anticipating the finish after the recall. She came in on the recall pretty well, paused slightly in front and then went into a nice finish from the right. She also anticipated one of the recalls when the instructor said "call her". Disappointing but hard to be too annoyed when she seemed to be trying so hard. The instructor said to make sure to treat after she sits front and before the finish. Any other ideas?

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

I will start out by saying I'm not very experienced..

But in your case I would mix it up a little (when training at home). Sometimes do a finish and sometimes don't.


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Dropping a hot dog chuck from your mouth on the fronts might keep her from jumping the gun. Make her wait a little bit before you drop it.

I also have almost zero experience, but I'll still jump in. If I'm way off base, I fully expect someone to say so.

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

If your dog is breaking on the fronts... the proofing would be you walking out the full length that you normally do, pause for a few seconds, and return and reward the wait/stay. The next step too would be having people at home help you with this. Have them stand behind your dog and issue the command "Call your dog" a couple times. And you would only call your dog on the second command. At class, you need the instructor or assistants to do the same thing. And sometimes you will call your dog on the first command. Sometimes you will just go back to reward.

The idea is to keep the dogs thinking, but make sure they only come running when you call them.

*** The other thing too is I would never reward or take notice when a dog anticipates a call and comes running to you. Comes should never be corrected, but you do not want your dog getting treats if he broke that wait. <- Fwiw - my Monday instructor will ask me if I'm happy with a front (meaning she thinks it's crooked). And if it's not perfect, then she doesn't want the treats coming out.

I would reward a front before the finish - primarily because you don't want an autofinish. You really want to make sure the dogs know that the front and the finish are two seperate exercises vs just the one.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -